On the water for the last two days, it occurred to me that the biggest fish I caught came before I touched the trolling motor pedal, and after I'd idled for quite a while.

I remember reading a review of the Aqua Sonix (sp?) years ago in In-Fisherman. Sadly the product never caught on, but the interesting part was what they said about motors. Trolling motors with the "engine" underwater were much louder than gas motors.

Anyway, so far this is what I attempt to do to avoid freaking fish out:

* Approach from upwind angle
* Idle for the last hundred feet or so
* If there is wind, stop the boat as far away as possible so that the wind can push it into the ideal casting position

Am I missing anything?

Fish pic: first fish on the hudd I used for rigging pics in the previous post.



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7145-hooks.jpg

I believe that the boat spooking fish will vary from lake to lake. I fish at a small lake and it deeper water mostly. I am always on the trolling motor and I use my fish finder a lot. I have caught lots of fish and some pretty decent ones too. I think the deeper they are the less affected they are by the boat noise. Now the bigger bass are pretty smart. One of the spots I fish I can watch the fish rise off the bottom when I come over it with my boat. I get upwind and drift over it and they will be back down on the bottom.

A while back I was privileged to speak with Paul Duclose (Sp?) and he had a lot of opinions about this. He likes to troll for big bass. He told me that he found the same thing with bigger bass. They hear the boat coming and they will rise off the bottom and get into a negative mood. He would long line the trolling set up maybe 100-150 feet behind the boat. Many times he was able to catch those fish because the boat was far enough away. Then there are those situations where the bass are in deep cover and people flip a foot away from the boat and they bite. So who knows...

Now on lakes that get a ton of fishing pressure this will change things. I have seen fish shut down when multiple people are on one spot fishing. All the fish finders clicking away will make them turn off. I think that the combined trolling motor noise and fish finder noise can be a killer on high pressure lakes. This is probably why the Bio Sonix works at times. It can help mask the noise and keep the fish interested.

I do believe that smaller boats do get bit better too :-)

I try to be as stealthy as possible when I'm fishing. One of my buddies always steps down from the deck to the bottom of the boat very hard. When his feet hit the floor it sounds like somebody dropped a brick. He always slams the lids on the compartments too. I am always reminding him to be a little more quiet because that sound will travel a long way and scares fish. Subsequently he hasn't caught many big fish.

Sometimes if I am very familiar with a spot and don't need my electronics I will turn them off. I'm not sure if it makes a difference but it can't hurt. Last year I experimented with an anchor, I'm sure alot of you guys have done this before but it was a first for me. It was actually kind of a relief not having to hit the trolling motor all of the time to reposition the boat.

I think you would need to have a log like Nico and Rob's log and have kept track of all these different variables over an extended time period to see if any of this stuff works. I guess if it means a couple more fish and year it's worth it.

Jake J

http://calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/jakej/

I am sure there is something to the fact that I always seem to catch better fish when I am fishing alone. As anyone who has fished with me can attest I like to talk, and I have a feeling that even this sound is transmitted to the fish.

I fish Folsom lake quite a bit and it is one of the busiest lakes in Northern California. I have noticed that while the fishing gets tougher when the skiers and pleasure boats come out you do not need to be a stealthy. As an example I was on a pod of fish this last April-November. The same group of fish were on one of three points every trip I took. Early in the mornings before it got crazy with boat traffic the fish were very spooky, but more willing to eat a bait, especially the bigger fish in the group. Now when the boat traffic would pick up in the late mornings into the afternoon I would get far more fish following my baits, but only the smaller fish in the pod were willing to eat. The most success I had with the bigger fish in this pod was rolling up on them quietly, with no electronics, before the boat traffic got heavy.

When they put the 5MPH restriction on the lake this in early fall, I found that I had a harder time locating the fish because they were more spooky. It took me knowing that the fish were there to figure out that I needed to be a bit more stealthy in my approach and sure enough I would get the fish to show themselves and sometimes eat. Going back to what I said above about being not as quite when fishing with others, I tried to show a buddy of mine this pod of fish on three different times and the only time we had any followers was in the middle of the day when the skiers were everywhere and never when we had the lake to ourselves.

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

Nico - I think you should put a 1/2" pad and some shag carpet in the new boat :) That would cut down on noise, not to mention how cool it would be to have shag carpet in a boat.

Aright seriously... noise is half of the problem trying to catch a big bass IMO. If it were possible to get a boat that was 100% silent, you could catch a ton more fish. Oh wait, that's called a float tube or a kickboat :) But then of course the problem is that you can't go very far in a rig like that.

There's been a few times when I've been lucky enough to get on a big school of prespawn swimbait eating bass from my kickboat/tube, and it's a big difference between that and a regular boat. You can lay cast after perfect cast in the right spot without moving or making any real amount of noise. A lot of times in a boat you can pull in and get a fish but then you have to leave for a while to get another one. So instead of capitalizing during the time when the fish want to bite most you have to kill time and catch less fish total.

I hate hate hate the fact that my aluminum boat makes a ton of noise fishing upwind. Splash, splish, slap, splash, splash. Ugggggggg. The worst. I think it's due to the raised metal ribs on the boat. As a result, I always fish downwind, like Nico says. Glass boats are quieter. They do displace more water which I think is bad, but on a windy day I'd much prefer to be in one. Certain glass boats seem quieter than others depending on the shape of the bow.

The drawbacks of glass is that you have more electronics. Fish finder, bilge, aerator, etc. You want big bass consistenly you need to turn all that off. The irony is that in tournaments you often want/need to turn it all on. Could be a reason why so many people catch big fish in practice and small fish come tournament day. Just my opinion.

Sometimes big bass act real stupid in spite of noise, but most times they don't. The more variables like noise you can eliminate the better off you are.

Interesting stuff.

Fish finders: I've never had any even anecdotal evidence that they scare the fish, but I figure if I can hear it, better to turn it off.

Trolling: I've only found one lake where trolling isn't a snag-filled nightmare. But anyway, the big fish totally will bite better with more line out. I'm talking 300-400 feet of line here. Reeling the fish in can get tiresome :)

Anchors: It takes a lot of time to commit to anchoring on one spot. You figure dropping the thing down must spook the fish. So you have to wait 10+ minutes after you drop the anchor before the fish settle down. Then you only get a couple different casts on a spot from an anchored boat. I've done some anchoring, but I rarely am fishing spots good enough to warrant the time required.

On small lakes with limited fishing spots and known huge fish spots, anchoring is probably a better idea. Thinking of course of the Butch Brown videos.

Float tubes: Huge difference. It's not uncommon for me to get fish on the 8th or 10th cast to a point in my kickboat. In a boat it's generally the first 3 casts or nothing.

Man, heavy topic.

I 100% agree that boat noise is a huge issue with guys. The other closely related topic is boat positioning. Some guys have problems not getting into the rhythm and flow of the conditions.

For example, when I'm fishing really well, I can fish a row of docks with minimal touches to the trolling motor for minimal durations. You have to stop and start a lot dock fishing, and the less do, or less overshooting and backing up stuff the way better. I'm learning this in my new Z520. I've never owned a MinnKota, and I've never had a recessed trolling motor mount on the deck. I must say, Minn Kota is impressive. Not saying better than Motorguide thus far, but impressive. Quiter, and less jerky/smoother. I love the built in transducer thing and connection to Lowrance. Getting off topic, but trolling motor noise best keep to a minimum. When I'm burning a bait and covering a lot of water, I pretty much have the trolling motor on the last 10 feet or so, if I can see no fish is following or on the bait. Occassionally, I get burned, but the idea is have your foot on the trolling motor as your bait is out of the water, even in flight, during the casting process.

Turn off your electronics period when trophy hunting. No front or back graphs, no auto bilge, no aerators. Release your fish quick: take your pictures, party with your catch, and be done with it.

I am always trying to improve my boat positioning. I now have a boat w/GPS so having the main graph on while the gas engine is running, and getting right on spots and places I have marked. That is huge in my mind in some situations for landing right on your fish.

Slapping water on your hull, agreed. Again boat position better, and definitely don't fight wind and current if you don't have to. Go with it.

Nico, have you found bluegrass music or something? You have truly been talking about the finer things in bigbait fishing. I love the topics. They are on point.

Shaka all, Happy New Year.

Matt

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

put two 12" sub woofers in your boat and crank them some regae music. Bass love low base. I think everyone I know who has a stereo in their boat has a story of crankiong their tunes and whacking big fish. Maybe the bass are conditioned to the everyday noises of the hundreds of boats that pass over them every week. They hear a different sound and it makes them curious??

Dan mentioned the Biosonix. I know a few of you have them.....they work!!!! I dont know if its the sounds they produce or the sounds they cover up.....but it works....

I could be the perfect example of this noise thing. I surprisingly pay little attention to it. I try to tread softly and not slam compartments, but I am on the t-moter constantly and I have my electronics on always. ANd guess what....I NEVER catch big fish.

So who knows, if its giants your after.....no noise is a must....but if you just want a 25 pound bag to win a tourney, dont sell yourself short on waisting time drifting up to a spot or killing your electronics. Time is to valuable and what you see below you on your meter can be priceless!

just another difference between trophy hunting and tournament fishing. Same species of fish, 2 totaly different schools of thought!!

I absolutely hate it when the person I'm fishing with makes noise. I honestly prefer fishing out of my 14' tin can than a full size fiberglass boat when I can get away with it just because I can get a little bit sneakier.

Something a little different in "Boat Spook".

Me and my buddy noticed over the years that a lot of fish that follow your bait to the boat would suddenly spook and turn at the sight of the boat. We put together an old Bass Attacker aluminum boat for specifically fishing the rivers around us (Jet). We completely gutted the boat and rebuilt it the way we wanted it. The one thing my buddy wanted to do was paint the boat camo. He thought by painting the boat camo it would keep from spooking a lot of those fish in the low, clear water conditions we were fishing. He was right! Our hook-up ratio went up at least 50% on those followers.

I would not believe this if I had not experienced it first hand. Fish would follow the bait all the way to the boat and strike right when you were getting ready to take the bait out of the water. We found this to be true on Bass, Stripers, Salmon, and Trout. It may not be the prettiest boat, but it sure catches the fish!

Well that settles it, time to Camoclad my bass boat. :)

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous

I think I'll paint a bunch of trout under mine...}(

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/7164-jet_boat.jpg

Fish Catchin Machine!

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

Is that paradise beach? The water looks super low...

Nico,

Are you talking the Delta? If so, 70-80 miles North of Paradise. By water, I have no idea, long, long ways. It would take at least a day, and you better know what you are doing, there is some bad water to get through.

There is some amazing fishing to be had in the Central Valley rivers if you can navigate the water. Jet's are awesome. We wasted a lot of props before we got our first jet. There is some HUGE Stripers that live in these rivers, and they love swimbaits!

Nah, it looks like a spot on the American River I fish. Next to the golf course. Also called Log Hole.

I love fishing the central valley rivers but usually only do it from a kickboat. Growing up in Modesto, I always wanted to get a jet boat to make fishing the Tuolumne and Merced rivers easier.

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have-yous